energy is reverberating, is the way i can describe it, and there's, like, something that you could feel it but you can't see it. so there's things that are unfolding, so maybe if it's something lyrical, say like i'm in the middle of writing something, or i'm with a collaborator and we're working on something, working on some ideas and we're kind of, and you can feel that there's an energy that's going back and forth and it's going back and forth. then that leads you to the next thing, like okay, well, when this is done we have to go in there and make sure that we put, like let me put this piano down so i can put the next thing. and wait, could you put some, do you hear some -- and it's just like an energy that's happening that -- tavis: so it's clicking, yeah. >> everything starts leading to the next thing, and basically what happens is you don't pay attention to the time anymore. tavis: i got it. [laughter] and then it's 5:00. >> and then whatever time it is, it is, but you know, like, you're in it and you're not forcing it. it's, like, natural. it's natural. it's just happening. it's

're at a time in your life where you have an enormous amount of creative energy, and there's no way to express it. that's why a lot of people get into drinking or drugs or whatever. ben and i talked about trying to channel it somewhere, and the script was a good way to do that, because it kept us focused and it captured that creative energy which otherwise would have just been frittered away in some other way. so in one sense it was about control then. now if there's an idea i think is really good and i feel like i can write it, then i'll do it. but i don't know that that's about control, necessarily. tavis: i don't know how to frame this question, but i'm going to ask it and you'll do justice to it, i'm certain. given that you started out as a writer, to your point, because you couldn't get hired at first, what kind of freedom, liberty, i'm trying to find the right word here, has the writing, knowing that you can write, knowing that you can write really good stuff, knowing that the good stuff you write can be made, so that you're not ever stuck in this actor's lane, if i can use that -- you s

, the bulk of them will be sacrifices of your time and energy and commitments that you make that nobody is ever aware of. that's really the most important work. it's work for its own sake, and you know it, and nobody else ever does, and nobody really cares. some people, they just see the glory and they don't want to know about the story. you get to a certain point where you forget how many sacrifices you've made. i remember losing weight for "courage under fire," losing -- i weighed 139 pounds. i weigh 50 pounds more than that right now. so this was 50 pounds ago, and just running. what that required was eating very little and very specific things and running 13 miles every day, six and a half in the morning, six and a half at night, by myself. i remember thinking to myself nobody's ever going to see, like, every step. it's just -- but that's what it is, ultimately, and that's what it takes. if you can get into that and understand that, because it was a great lesson for me, because it worked and i was happy with the outcome. so then i never complained about that work in the future. tavi

energy and there should have been. we could have done it, we haven't done it, we have to do it. global warming is happening. climate change is here. i don't want to be the person that doesn't talk about it. i don't want to be the person that denies it. there's too much science. there was a moment in the early 90s and that was when i had my first kid. i mean, this is really selfish, you know. i had my first kid and i thought, oh, my gosh. i started learning about what was really going on. they talked about greenhouse. remember, the time magazine said, "what is the greenhouse effect?" there was a moment where we were all really motivated and then i don't know what happened. personally, i think the oil companies and i think that a lot of people whose pockets are lined by them just devastated that conversation. tavis: what do you think it is gonna take for that conversation to get traction with everyday american people? i say the average american because it is not like these issues aren't discussed. it is not like people, you know, can't feel that something in the environment -- whether yo

, because you don't have to expend any energy on trying to hear with somebody else's ears, you know. i'll tell you, that is the worst feeling because it's corrosive and pervasive and insidious to be writing a song and then, halfway through, go -- you know, maybe you're excited about the song, maybe you're really connected to the song, maybe it's meaningful to you and then, halfway through, go, well, they're never gonna like it. tavis: yeah. >> it's deflating and it's really hard to not be affected by it. i mean, 'cause i'd like to sort of feel like i'm one of those people that goes, oh, i don't care what other people think, but i think the act of songwriting and making records and being a musician is so much about being open and porous and empathetic and not having these boundaries. you know, then you can't control like some of the negative stuff that comes in. i mean, i castigate myself for it. i really feel like i should not care or should not have been affected by that, but i admit that i was and i have been. you know, in other ways, i have been, but it's a terrible feeling to go, y

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